


The Curious Phone Call from the Soldier at Night-Time

by gilsoonie



Category: Super Junior
Genre: M/M, army fic kinda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 12:48:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16118798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilsoonie/pseuds/gilsoonie
Summary: After a long day of work, all Cho Kyuhyun wanted was to go home.





	The Curious Phone Call from the Soldier at Night-Time

_January 2017_

Another day, another shit-ton of wons added your bank account. These were the words Kyuhyun often heard when meeting up for the occasional drink with Heechul, although the latter was frequently even more exhausted than he himself was, with all the variety programs that Heechul regularly appeared on and whatnot. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, knew his personal limits and chose not to push it, despite the tantilizing and hefty sum of money being offered in every direction. Especially on days like this, where he had endured long hours of back to back recordings mixed with a never-ending amount of ‘no good' takes. People didn't realize it, but the need to come up with adlibs on the spot, while also being witty when playing off an unimaginative script filled with the overused, forceful gags and jokes, utilized far more energy than it should. At the end of the day, after a long day of work, all Kyuhyun wanted was to be at home. 

Yet, even the solitude that "home" offered was more times than not less comforting than his hectic schedule.

The apartment door easily swung open with a gentle push. Bright lights from the well lit hallway attempted to slither its way into the apartment, but was quickly forced out when Kyuhyun quietly closed the door with a _click_. Glancing around the unlit space, Kyuhyun was met once more with stale silence. Even though he had been living this way for nearly four months now, he still expected _some_ semblance of life to greet him the moment he stepped foot into the apartment. He missed tripping over the chaotic, yet somewhat organized rows of shoes at the door entrance, lined on each side by endless racks of clothes that simply could not fit the small closet space that was available. It seemed like it had been decades ago that the gifts from the fans littered every available space of the shared living room, alongside the many trophies that the group had procured during their long lasting career. He missed the petty fights with the other members over who got the privilege of taking the first post-schedule shower or who got the first bowl of steaming hot rice. Hell, he even missed arguing over the comfiest pair of underwear, despite the overflowing plastic tub that was tucked away in the nook of their kitchenette.

But instead, now he was left with an oversized and nearly abandoned apartment where his only companions were the occasional managers that dropped by and a life-sized giraffe doll that was affectionately given the name "Gilsoonie."

“Hi Gilsoonie,” the brunette murmured a tired greeting, softly petting the snout of the giant plushie as he stepped into the empty bedroom.

He unceremoniously dropped his backpack by the bedroom entrance, tiptoeing over its spilled contents and made his way towards the cramped twin sized bed that was pushed into the corner of the room. Not even bothering to strip himself out of the oversized sweater and fit dress pants that he had been donning for the majority of the day, Kyuhyun dove headfirst onto the mattress, rolling onto one side as he pulled the thick purple duvet over himself.

“Tired,” his murmurs were filled with a childlike whine. He nuzzled his still makeup covered cheeks onto the fluffy pillow, unbothered by the trails of foundation left behind in its wake. Sighing to himself, the brunette pulled the warm comforter up to his nose, asmall smile gracing his lips. Even though it had been nearly four months, his lover's scent faintly lingered on the comforter, just as they did on the pillows, small plushies, and the rest of the bedding set. The fading scent was nearly overpowered by a mixture of both his personal body odor and the smell of musty uncleanliness. Yet regardless of his unorthodox actions, all that mattered to Kyuhyun was that it was still there, stubbornly attaching itself onto the dirtied sheets just as Kyuhyun clenched onto the thought that they would be reunited once more in just a short time.

A fatigued yawn slipped between Kyuhyun's lips. His lack of proper sleep was far too apparent these days and the brunette felt himself mentally drifting off, despite having returned home only moments ago. With one hand tightly clutching a grinning giraffe plush against his chest and the other tucked underneath the violet colored pillows, it didn't take long for him to finally fall asleep, breathing in the familiar and comforting scent just as he had done so for the past few months.

An hour later, his nostalgia filled dreams were abruptly interrupted by both the sporadic vibrations and by the overbearing ringing that was emitting from his cell phone. In his drowsy stupor, he had half the mind to chuck the object across the room, praying to the gods that it would shatter into a million unsalvageable pieces and finally silence itself. However, the last he had done that, his manager had stormed into the apartment no less than an hour later, large and angry veins visibly pulsating against his brightly flushed skin. Despite the fact that it was the dead of night, the infuriated manager dragged the brunette out of bed, giving him an earful of a scolding over his actions until dawn finally began to rise.

Muttering a string of curses, he finally released the plushie from his secure embrace and shoved his free hand deeply into his pants pocket, pulling out the damned device that seemed unwilling to stop its disturbance. Not bothering to check the callers' identification, Kyuhyun slammed his thumb down onto the screen, accepting the forsaken call before bringing the device up to his ear.

"Ughhhh...hello?" He murmured into the receiver, his face falling back onto the pillow's still warm surface.

"Kyu?" A small voice whispered back.

Kyuhyun was about end the call, frustration festering within him. The few precious hours of sleep that he could get was interrupted by yet another call made by what seemed to be a sasaeng. He couldn't help but feel increasingly irate at the caller's lack of sensitivity, especially when the flashing green digits of the digital clock caught his eyes. Just as he prepared to launch himself into a Kim Heechul-inspired tirade, he found himself motionless when the voice repeated itself, this time a shade louder than before.

"Kyuhyun? Are you there?"

His heavy lidded eyes widened in disbelief as Kyuhyun swallowed the lump caught in his throat. His heart was suddenly pounding at an undeniably rapid pace while at the same time, his increasingly clammy hands began to shake against its hold on his phone. Any trace of drowsiness was now long gone, easily being replaced by a flicker of hopefulness. It had been two arduous months since he had last heard the mellifluous voice of his lover over the phone and even then it was brief and cautious. Kyuhyun's hope of another call had virtually died out when the other had been officially assigned to the busy 37th division. From then on, their most recent points of contact only consisted of handwritten letters. Yet, after spending over ten years together, the fluttering quality of his lover's voice was something that would be forever embedded in both his heart and mind.

"Ryeowook?" He questioned, his tremblings laced with a mixture hope and anticipation. The brunette swept both the stuffed giraffe and the comforter off of him as he scrambled to sit upright, tightly clenching onto his sole connection to the other. "Ryeonggu...is it...really you?"

A muted pause came from the other side of the line, though Kyuhyun could have sworn that he could discern the unmistakable sounds of whispering mixed in the background. The brunette's lips parted, ready to call out to his lover once more when he was finally given an answer, though this time, it sent chills down his spine.

"Listen here you  **fucking**  brat," Ryeowook scowled, confirming the brunette man's deeply rooted desires of the caller's identity. However, his mind was just as quickly flooded with both concern and confusion. In their all of the years that the two had spent together, Kyuhyun had never heard the other speak to anyone in the cruel, almost unloving tone such as the one being presented before him. "How many times do I have I to tell you to call me hyung? And enough with the informalities.”

"I-" The brunette stammered, throat dry at the sudden loss for words. "I-uh sorry."

Just as quickly as he had blabbered his response, Kyuhyun wanted to admonish himself at his own recklessness. Whether it was due to his lingering mental fatigue or due to being caught off guard by the late night phone call, he hadn't been quick enough to realize his repeated mistake of still using informalities. Despite the ridiculousness of their home country’s hierarchy system, Ryeowook, based on the outlandish technicalities, was still both a hyung and a sunbae.

" _ **Excuse me?**_ " Ryeowook questioned incredulously. Kyuhyun cringed at the audible shakiness in the other's voice, though the part of him that wasn't currently scared out of his wits couldn't help but wonder how much of it actually stemmed from being spoken to informally. "Do you want to try that again?"

"I deeply apologize for my mistakes Ryeowook...hyung," Kyuhyun uttered into the phone's speaker, this time reverting back to the formal tone that the pair had mutually agreed to dispose of many years ago.

"Much better."

"Uhh, so how have you been?" He quickly tacked on another 'Ryeowook-hyung', hoping not to incite another unexpected outburst from the soldier. "It's kind of late for a phone call isn't it?"

"Oh just fine. Everything's fine," Ryeowook chirped into the phone, although the nearly indistinguishable nervousness in his voice seemed to say otherwise. "Are you at the dorms right now? Hyung needs a favor from you."

"Yeah, I'm at the dorms. What's up?" Another 'hyung' was quickly added as a precaution.

"Go to my room and grab my phone," the soldier instructed, telling the other his password as well. "And read off a few of the contacts to me."

Kyuhyun blinked at the peculiar request. However, before he could even consider opening his infamously filterless mouth, he decided against questioning the odd favor. It would just be a surefire way to piss off Ryeowook or draw suspicion to whoever else seemed to be lingering around on the other end. He tugged open the drawer of the nightstand that was next to him, pulling out the cast off smart phone from its temporary home. "I'm turning it on now."

He was only met with silence. Besides the increasingly obvious and animated whispers originating from the other end, no other words were further exchanged between the two. Finally, after inputing the memorized password into the phone, Kyuhyun pulled up the requested address book on Ryeowook's phone.

"Umm Boo Seungkwannie, Byun Baekhyunnie, Cha Hakyeonnie, Ch-"

"Just the girls."

Kyuhyun blinked again, pulling his own phone away and staring at the device in disbelief. He quickly pressed it back against his ear when the sound of his name being called grabbed his attention once more. "Just...the girls?" he repeated.

"Y-yeah," the other stammered back, the confidence in his voice wavering ever-so-slightly. "You can...uh...use their stage names too. Since there's just **so** many of them. So many...that I can't even remember them all."

"Okay..." Kyuhyun trailed off, shrugging more so to himself before once again probing through the seemingly endless list of contacts. Amongst Ryeowook's nearly undecipherable collection of nicknames, he found himself relieved at the good luck blessed upon him. There were at least a few names that he could recognize within the organized chaos. "Umm there's Amber, ChoA, Hyosung, Sojin, Irene..."

His ears perked at the surge in volume of the background noise that came from Ryeowook's end and paused midway through listing the names. "Is there somebody else there?" the brunette finally questioned, eyebrows raising at the pronounced chanting of both 'Tzuyu' and ‘Seolhyun’. "Am I on speakerphone? Hyung."

An vexed  _shush_  was heard through the speakers and the brunette had to bite down on his lip to contain his bellowing laughter.  ** _Now_**  things were beginning to connect and make sense once more.  ** _Now_**  he could comprehend the reason for the uncharacteristically, strict demeanor that Ryeowook was portraying.  ** _Now_**  he understood the other's insistence for such an odd task to be completed in a specific, but still very nonsensical manner.

"I'm right, aren't I?" he managed to say, feeling significantly more at ease now that he was catching on to his lover's perplex, but most definitely not uncommon, situation.

"Don't question your hyung!" Ryeowook barked back. This time, Kyuhyun could clearly decipher the blend of humiliation, embarrassment, and even apology in the other's voice. "Just...just keep going! Brat!"

"Yes  _hyung_ ," he sniggered, albeit less covertly than before. "Seohyun, Jisook, Luna, Seulgi-"

" **AH! KANG SEULGI!** " The sound of a grown man's ear shattering screeches rang through the phone's speaker, nearly deafening Kyuhyun as he leaned back and yanked the phone away from his ear. However, before another round of chants could arise, the unfamiliar man's voice was quickly cut off by a series of painfully loud collisions instead.

"Umm...should I keep going?"

"Yes," came Ryeowook's terse reply. Snorting aloud, Kyuhyun could only imagine his lover, tightly squeezing the phone just as he himself did so moments earlier. The image of Ryeowook irritably gritting his teeth, his beady eyes shooting daggers at all the other soldiers' ironically inability of being stealthy was far too comical. "Keep going Kyuhyun-ah. I know I have **so** many more female idols' numbers on my phone."

“Krystal?"

~*~

At the utterance of the woman's name, the phone nearly slipped between the cracks of Ryeowook's already sweating fingers. Brown eyes widened, he glanced up at the other men, praying to himself that they had been far too enthralled at the prospect of making a phone call to a girl group member and had missed the slight murmur that came from the phone's speaker. Yet, the matching, pained expressions that they all now bore indicated otherwise. Swallowing the lump in his throat, the idol silently turned to the soldier that was sitting closest to him, their gazes meeting. The man glanced away just as quickly, loudly sniffling as he buried his face into the palms of his hands.

"KRYSTAL HAS BETRAYED US ALL!" Another soldier cried out. The others, including the high ranking sergeant who was _supposed_ to be supervising them on this unauthorized, late night excursion, joined in, their repetitive cries of betrayal and deception growing increasingly louder and rampant by the second.

" _KYUHYUN!_ " Ryeowook's tinny voice shrieked into the phone. Everything had been going somewhat in accordance to the plan he had formulated last minute. All he had to do was impress the sergeant by showing off his extensive connections to girl group members, as well as present a stern and supposedly more ‘manlier’ attitude that the man had constantly insisted that Ryeowook should adapt. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing with Kyuhyun's willingness to cooperate. That is, until his lover had completely crumbled the foundation that was painstakingly built by unknowingly speaking of the entire division's forbidden subject.

"I'M SORRY!" Kyuhyun answered back, though judging by the familiar cackling he could hear amidst the soldiers' wailing, Ryeowook had the suspicion that there was absolutely no sincerity in his apology. "HYUNG."

Still clutching the phone with one hand, Ryeowook waved his free arm at the soldiers, gesturing for the unconsolable men to lower their collectively booming voices. “Guys shhh!” He hissed, shooting a paranoid glance at the room's sole entrance. At any moment, there was an increasing possibility that one of the many high ranking officer could walk in and find a mass of soldiers dawdling around far beyond the curfew, especially if they were drawn in by the unexpectantly loud ruckus of wailing soldiers. Not only would they all be punished for breaking the rules, but Ryeowook had no doubt that the sergeant himself would later inflict another series of punishment on the group, though this time it would be out of his personal spite from being caught as well.

“ _ **Oi!**_ ” Kyuhyun’s voice rang out from the receiver, his voice lacking any trace of formality. “How about SNSD?!”

“Yes!” Ryeowook quickly added, still trying to motion to the group of men to calm down. “Everyone loves SNSD! There's Sunny and Yuri-”

“And Taeyeon and Yoona-”

The ruckus from the soldiers abruptly came to a silent end and a dozen pair of eyes were all suddenly trained on Ryeowook. The idol cringed under their watchful eyes, clutching onto the telephone as if it could serve as some sort of protection against a horde of combat-trained men.

“...Yoona?” One of the soldier's murmured, wiping his sleeve against his running nose as he looked at Ryeowook. The soldier's wide orbs glistening wistfully, almost as if the woman's name had brought him into a hypnotic, trance-like state. “SNSD? The goddess of SM? **_That_**  Yoona?”

Ryeowook cautiously stared back, pressing the phone's speaker against his camouflage fatigues. Despite his attempts, the muffled sound of Kyuhyun’s worried voice repeatedly shouting his name could still be heard amidst the stale quietness that spread throughout the room. Silently biting down on his lip, the idol gave the group a subtle nod in confirmation.

“ **YOONA~!** ” their synchronized cheers filled with bliss. This time, instead of resorting to another chaotic, riot like chant, the men instead turned to one another, their excited chattering filling the room at a much more reasonable whisper.

Ryeowook let out the heavy breathe he had been holding before bringing the phone's speaker back to his ear, “Can you tell me Yoona’s number?” he said, grabbing a nearby stationary set and quickly scribbling down the digits read to him. “Thanks Kyu. I-”

Ryeowook paused momentarily, hesitant to continue further. There were so many things that he wanted- no, _needed_ \- to say to the other before breaking off their connection again for who knows how long. Yet, the confused glances from his curious comrades lead him to do otherwise. Sighing to himself, Ryeowook quickly choked out his goodbyes to Kyuhyun, with the rest of the unit crowding around the phone to thank the young idol and bid their farewells as well. Just as he was going to end the call, Kyuhyun's voice rang out, filled with the cunning and devious tone that he hated, but also adored all at the same time.

“You know hyung, even though you're oh so popular with all those girls, I’m sure your special someone has been waiting a long time for a call too.”

And with that, a dumbstruck Ryeowook was left with an eruption of hoots from his comrades and the droning sound of the dial tone.

\-------

**Author's Note:**

> Ummm so my original plan was to finish this before Wook discharged but we all see how well that's went hahah. Hopefully soon tho? :D


End file.
